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Shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the Copyright Act - http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/info/act-e.html#rid-33409
Link to Original Article on Ruxted.ca
Given that “Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire!” is inappropriate, The Ruxted Group wonders how to respond to long time Liberal mouthpiece Scott Reid’s recent piece in the Toronto Star.
Mr. Reid says: “the unmistakable truth is that this is Harper's war and he alone is responsible for our current predicament.”
That is not true.
Mr. Reid is a skilled political operator – a master ‘spin doctor.’ He is an insider - he served in Paul Martin's PMO (Prime Minister's Office); now he is a ‘communications’ consultant, advising politicians. He knows what happened in Ottawa, in the cabinet room and in the PMO during the Chrétien and Martin administrations. He knows that Prime Minister Chrétien initiated Canadian combat operations in Afghanistan in early 2002, doing “the right thing, the honourable thing,” as Ruxted said about a year ago. We were less kind, in the same article, about Prime Minister Chrétien’s later decision to rejoin the Afghan mission, as part of ISAF, and we were downright disdainful of Prime Minister Martin’s dithering which landed us in Kandahar. Many Canadians will remember seeing Mr. Reid on TV political talk shows defending Prime Minister Martin’s decisions to send our troops to fight and die in Kandahar. Now he has changed his tune to try to paint a different picture.
Ruxted may have doubted some of the Chrétien and Martin rationale for sending Canadians to fight and die in Afghanistan, but we - clearly, correctly and honestly - stated who made the decisions: the leaders of the governments Mr. Reid served. What is not in doubt, not by any single informed Canadian, is that Afghanistan is Canada’s War – initiated by a prime minister representing the Liberal Party of Canada, continued by a second Liberal prime minister, and, according to the wishes of the elected Parliament of Canada, faithfully prosecuted by the current, Conservative prime minister. To suggest otherwise is to be untruthful.
Mr. Reid is clearly not telling the truth.
Mr. Reid says Afghanistan may become a defining issue in the next election campaign. Indeed, his aim is to mislead Canadians into thinking it is “Harper’s war.” Ruxted hopes Afghanistan is an issue – a major issue – in the next election campaign. Ruxted hopes that the Afghanistan issue will:
• Force Canadians – a large minority, at least, of whom are clearly uncomfortable with the mission, with how it is being conducted and with how it is changing the Canadian Forces – to confront reality. Reality is that the world is not a nice, safe place where ’peacekeepers’ in baby-blue berets can feed little children so that Canadians can feel good about themselves, while other countries do the heavy lifting;
• Force politicians of all stripes to face up to the decisions they made – especially in the case of politicians who served in the Chrétien and Martin regimes - decisions made in many cases for base and dishonourable reasons; and
• Force the ‘cheering section’ stalwarts, back-room apparatchiks and spin doctors like Mr. Reid to be honest about who did what to whom.
The Ruxted Group sees this bit of ‘spin’ as being just part of a partisan political campaign tactic aimed at convincing Canadians that the current government is wholly responsible for the Afghanistan situation. It is an article of faith amongst the spin doctors that any lie, repeated often enough and loudly enough, becomes the truth. The campaign also involves acts of political irresponsibility such as blaming the federal Conservatives for traumatic stress in small children, and abandoning rather than repairing important provisions of the anti-terrorism laws – laws which were put on the books, in the first place, by a Liberal government. Perhaps it will work. Perhaps Mr. Reid’s unstated assumption is correct; perhaps Canadians will believe the lies – if they are repeated often enough.
To be honest, Mr. Reid, the truth is the opposite of what you wrote, and you must know it. Shame on you, sir!
Link to Original Article on Ruxted.ca
Given that “Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire!” is inappropriate, The Ruxted Group wonders how to respond to long time Liberal mouthpiece Scott Reid’s recent piece in the Toronto Star.
Mr. Reid says: “the unmistakable truth is that this is Harper's war and he alone is responsible for our current predicament.”
That is not true.
Mr. Reid is a skilled political operator – a master ‘spin doctor.’ He is an insider - he served in Paul Martin's PMO (Prime Minister's Office); now he is a ‘communications’ consultant, advising politicians. He knows what happened in Ottawa, in the cabinet room and in the PMO during the Chrétien and Martin administrations. He knows that Prime Minister Chrétien initiated Canadian combat operations in Afghanistan in early 2002, doing “the right thing, the honourable thing,” as Ruxted said about a year ago. We were less kind, in the same article, about Prime Minister Chrétien’s later decision to rejoin the Afghan mission, as part of ISAF, and we were downright disdainful of Prime Minister Martin’s dithering which landed us in Kandahar. Many Canadians will remember seeing Mr. Reid on TV political talk shows defending Prime Minister Martin’s decisions to send our troops to fight and die in Kandahar. Now he has changed his tune to try to paint a different picture.
Ruxted may have doubted some of the Chrétien and Martin rationale for sending Canadians to fight and die in Afghanistan, but we - clearly, correctly and honestly - stated who made the decisions: the leaders of the governments Mr. Reid served. What is not in doubt, not by any single informed Canadian, is that Afghanistan is Canada’s War – initiated by a prime minister representing the Liberal Party of Canada, continued by a second Liberal prime minister, and, according to the wishes of the elected Parliament of Canada, faithfully prosecuted by the current, Conservative prime minister. To suggest otherwise is to be untruthful.
Mr. Reid is clearly not telling the truth.
Mr. Reid says Afghanistan may become a defining issue in the next election campaign. Indeed, his aim is to mislead Canadians into thinking it is “Harper’s war.” Ruxted hopes Afghanistan is an issue – a major issue – in the next election campaign. Ruxted hopes that the Afghanistan issue will:
• Force Canadians – a large minority, at least, of whom are clearly uncomfortable with the mission, with how it is being conducted and with how it is changing the Canadian Forces – to confront reality. Reality is that the world is not a nice, safe place where ’peacekeepers’ in baby-blue berets can feed little children so that Canadians can feel good about themselves, while other countries do the heavy lifting;
• Force politicians of all stripes to face up to the decisions they made – especially in the case of politicians who served in the Chrétien and Martin regimes - decisions made in many cases for base and dishonourable reasons; and
• Force the ‘cheering section’ stalwarts, back-room apparatchiks and spin doctors like Mr. Reid to be honest about who did what to whom.
The Ruxted Group sees this bit of ‘spin’ as being just part of a partisan political campaign tactic aimed at convincing Canadians that the current government is wholly responsible for the Afghanistan situation. It is an article of faith amongst the spin doctors that any lie, repeated often enough and loudly enough, becomes the truth. The campaign also involves acts of political irresponsibility such as blaming the federal Conservatives for traumatic stress in small children, and abandoning rather than repairing important provisions of the anti-terrorism laws – laws which were put on the books, in the first place, by a Liberal government. Perhaps it will work. Perhaps Mr. Reid’s unstated assumption is correct; perhaps Canadians will believe the lies – if they are repeated often enough.
To be honest, Mr. Reid, the truth is the opposite of what you wrote, and you must know it. Shame on you, sir!
